Frame Help!

[Johns89YJ]

1065203

1989 YJ, 4.2L, 5SPD, 2" Body Lift, 188000 miles. Week ago started to notice some strange wobbling when taking off from a dead stop. Jeep goes side to side a bit then fore and aft. Checked the suspension and found that holes in the frame that the rear spring shackle mounts to are rusted out. On the drivers side, there is a 1/2" gap behind that shackle bushing. Not as bad on the passenger side. I'm sure that others have come across this in the past. What type of fix did you do? some have said I need to find a wreck and hack off enough good frame and weld on. Others say that I can box the bad frame with plate steel. I'm either going to fix and keep, fix and sell or sell as-is, but can not decide. I've been to two shops that say no-way will they touch it. Thoughts? :-? [addsig]

 

[dingus]

1065216

shops won't touch it because of the liability involved. if i were you, i'd just go pick up some 1/4" thick steel and weld it onto the frame, possibly need some 1/2" longer bolts or something to accommodate the thickness in metal plates you'll be adding. might need different shackles too... i forget how they mount...[addsig]

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

1065230

I would use steel plate to patch the frame rails, make it long enough to weld into solid frame in front of the bad spots. I wouldn't cut it off and weld on a new section of frame. I'd swap the body to another frame before I did that.[addsig]

 

[west747]

1065231

why not just find a frame that is in decent shape from the junk yard?...i got a pretty good bend in my frame ( from hitting a tree) and i am looking into buying a frame and swapping everything over...[addsig]

 

[Johns89YJ]

1065246

I like the idea of just boxing the frame with plate. I thought of trying to find a good frame at a junk yard, but I'm too scared that when I swap frames, I'll find too many bad things with this jeep. The frame fix will keep me going for another year, then it will be ready for retirement. The cancer is starting to show up all over.[addsig]